Monday, May 21, 2007

"Adaptation Issues", and a Neuromancer movie?

Ahh what to do while test runs finish? Sometimes I get additional real work done, but when it gets close to a holiday, or just the end of a day, I visit Movie websites.

Coming Soon recently quoted an article from Variety about one of my favorite novels - William Gibson's Neuromancer getting a producer for a (long-overdue, IMHO) movie.

Now granted, some of the book hasn't aged very well (Gibson's introduction to a recent re-issue asks about the lack of cell phones), but some of it would still translate VERY nicely to the big screen. Of course, the last major-release attempt to bring one of his works to the big screen was a dismal failure, story-wise, even though (again IMHO) the look-and-feel was close.

Another movie site I visit introduced me to a phrase - "adaptation issues". Basically, if one has enjoyed a story in one form, one may have problem what that story is retold in another form. Ask die-hard (insert-book or comic here) fans about how (book or comic)'s movie version just messed things up SO BADLY. Often, some of their criticisms turn out to be well-based, other times, it's just acute fan{boy,girl} nitpicking. One's adaptation issues seem to be tied to how beloved the original source material is by someone. My only real experience with adaptation issues was the reaction I had to Johnny Mnemonic, where I felt like there was a wonderful opportunity that had been squandered. I really hope Neuromancer's movie adaptation doesn't leave me feeling the same way.